Human Touch TBM is a
synthesis of many massage philosophies.
Massage is one of humanity's oldest known medicines, dating back to
at least 3000 BC, when it was described in Chinese literature. The
basis of TBM is An Mo, a Chinese term literally meaning, “Press Rub”,
but TBM draws on many different philosophies of massage, some of which are
outlined below.
The Hawaiian Massage, Lomi
Ka'Ala Hoku, means "Massage Journey to the Stars". Long ago Lomi
Ka' Ala Hoku was the sacred transformational bodywork reserved solely for
Hawaiian Royalty. Immediately after birth, to welcome the child to their
new life and family, the Royal infant was taken to the tidal pools and
Lomied while floating in the warm water. The original Lomi ceremonies were
performed exclusively by the Kahunas, Hawaii's spiritual priests and
priestesses. Many of these Lomi sessions included up to twenty healers and
lasted for several days at a time. Traditionally, Lomi was performed
whenever one experienced a major life-cycle transition such as birth,
passing into adolescence, before marriage, entering or changing a life
profession, and the death of a loved one.
Lomi is a prayerful, loving, nurturing, total-body massage, a rite
of passage, and a ritual for shamanic initiation and training. Lomi
provides spiritual and physical healing, and expands the Body, Mind, and
Spirit connections. Lomi sessions were used to nurture the individual
throughout life until transformation.
The idea that touch can heal
is an old one. The first written records of massage date back 3,000 years
to China. The word massage comes from an Arabic word meaning
'stroke'. A bas-relief on the tomb of Anhj-mahor, a c. 2200 B.C.
Egyptian priest, depicts a seated man receiving a vigorous foot rub.
Hippocrates, the Greek physician known as the father of modern medicine,
was a 4th century B.C. proselytizer for massage. " The physician must
be experienced in many things, but most assuredly in rubbing," he
wrote. In the Middle Ages, the Church saw manipulation of the body as the
work of the devil; many proto-masseuses may have been burned as the stake
as witches. In the 20th century also, massage has often been assumed to be
a front - not for the devil but for prostitution.
Massage has regained
respectability in recent years and now enjoys unprecedented popularity.
Some 25 million Americans make 60 million visits to 85,000 practitioners
each year. Those numbers don't include employees of the growing number of
institutions-including the U.S. Department of Justice-that offer massage
in the workplace. Or the children of the 10,000 parents who learn baby
massage each year. Massage is being used to boost athletic performance,
reduce agitation in Alzheimer's patients and relieve stress at disaster
sites. After the Oklahoma City bombing, volunteer therapists gave massages
to exhausted rescue workers, numbed survivors and overworked pathologists.
The state medical examiner observed that the massage therapists were
accomplishing more in 15 minutes that psychologists could in an hour or
two.
Massage therapy ranks third
among the most frequently used forms of alternative health care.- The
New England Journal of Medicine 1/93. At least 75% of all disease and
illness has a direct link to the stress and tension on the nervous system.
Massage is considered to be
among the oldest of all treatment forms used by people. Reference to
massage can be found in 15,000-year-old cave paintings in the Pyrenees and
2,000-year-old Chinese medical texts. Even Hippocrates, the father of
Western medicine, spoke of the effectiveness of massage.
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